110% Chance of Rain

It was chilly, rainy, very rainy, a bit thundery and windy enough to turn many umbrellas inside out for a few hours earlier today. It was unpleasant enough that college presidents and politicians reduced their speeches to "Congratulations!".

Why were we out in weather like that? Well, we had a very, very good reason, because, somewhere in this throng is my daughter.

Today, she graduated from SUNY Brockport with a Bachelor's in Accounting. There are not enough words to say just how proud we are of her!

Wow Update

The Scooba will also need a name. For some reason, I think both Roomba and Scooba are male. The little robot works really well, at least as well as the big floor scrubber, and much easier on me! Multitasking at it's finest...vacuuming the bedroom (Roomba), washing the kitchen floor (Scooba), and making my lunch for tomorrow, dinner & dessert for tonight...all at once!

I'll have to pace myself...one could really wear out one's pointy finger.

Wow!

As I may have mentioned before, I am a real sucker for gadgets. It amuses me and makes me very happy when said gadgets work as advertised.

This last weekend, we finished opening the pool. It is early, but Mother Nature lent a hand earlier in the year and shredded the winter cover. Yes, there was a gadget involved...a leaf vacuum that operates with a water hose (rather than the pool filter). I've gotta say, it worked quite well and sucked up all the leaves in less than 15 minutes. Way, way easier than trying to pick the things off the bottom of the pool with a skimmer net or, if one is up to it, actually getting in the pool and picking them off the bottom!

Today, I was surprised to see that Mom had stopped by for a visit. A nice surprise all by herself, but she brought early birthday presents. May I present my new, fabulously wonderful, best. toy. ever: a Roomba vacuum. Let me tell you, this baby really works. It just be-bops around the room, bouncing off obstacles and doing a really good job of vacuuming. It does, however, drive the cats nuts. The cats do not realize that there is another fun feature: a command center (fancy name for a remote)...this can only result in much fun at their expense!

Not only did Mom bring Roomba (which clearly needs a good name...any suggestions?), she brought his brother: Scooba. He needs to charge overnight before using the first time. I will, of course, let everyone know the results of his first run about the floor.

All I can say is: Mom...you rock!

I've Been Tagged

From Deb, at "Not Pretty to Watch"

Relationship meme
1. Where did you meet? High School...he looked like a keeper
2. How long did you date? 7 years, then finally got around to getting hitched and it will be 28 years worth of always-worth-it marriage!
3. How old is he? 49, I'm another "cradle snatcher" as I'm all of 3 months older than he is.
4. Who eats more? Him.
5. Who said “I love you” first? You know, I really don't remember, but probably him.
6. Who is taller? He is 6 foot 2. I am the 2nd shortest in my family at 5'6"
7. Who sings better? Neither one of us has a musical bone in our bodies
8. Who is smarter? We're both smart in our own departments. He can design the most gorgeous furniture and build it. Me, I seem to have developed a knack for computers (mostly software)
9.Whose temper is worse? I was going to say a tie, but I think mine can be worse.
10. Who does the laundry? I'm the laundress
11. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Me...I called dibs on closest to the bathroom!
12. Who pays the bills? Me, but we have another account that he uses for the furniture stuff.
13. Who cooks dinner? Me again and I do the grilling (all year 'round too). I'm sure that it looks pretty silly when I'm out there in the snow!
14. Who drives when you are together? He does, but that way I can knit. Although I'm thinking I should take over city driving when needed; he gets so frustrated with it.
15. Who is more stubborn? Me, no him, me...oh let's call it a tie!
16. Who kissed whom first? He kissed me.
17. Who is the first to admit to being wrong? This goes back to the stubborn thing again, let's call it a tie again.
18. Whose parents do you see the most? My mom.
19. Who proposed? He did.
20. What’s his best physical attribute? Legs...he has great legs, also arms, and hands.
21. Who has more friends? Hmm--ditto--we both have a lot of acquaintances, but few friends.
22. What are you most proud of him for? For designing, planning and being the contractor to build our house. Then he proceeded to build things like cabinets in the bathroom and laundry, a fabulous entertainment center and even my spinning wheel!
23. Who has more siblings? He does with 2 sisters; I'm an only brat!
24. Who wears the pants in the family? Both of us, except when it's summer, then we wear shorts.

OK, Deb, happy now?

Let's see now...who to tag? How about Mouse and Denise?

Weekends

Weekends can be really wonderous events. I've even had two great ones in a row.

Last weekend was our 3rd annual spinning retreat at Stella Maris on Conesus Lake. We have been truly blessed with first-rate spring weather every time. My weekend spinning project was to spend some time spinning up all those small samples of different sheep breeds and other fibers that have been populating my stash. I put a really big dent in that pile, so that mission is close to being accomplished. During the weekend, I found out something really good about a fellow spinner...not only is she a fabulous spinner, felter and photographer, she makes the best. ever. pina. coladas!

Yesterday was filled with a bit of gardening and getting the pool cover (or what was left of it) off the pool. Since the cover got torn up in a wind storm back in January, we really need to open the pool earlier than usual...before it gets all green and ugly.

Today was "Same Ol' Days" (really called Old Fashioned Days) at a farm just south of here. The local draft horse association gets out their teams and equipment. It's also a good opportunity to catch up with folks you haven't seen all winter. Many people (including us) bring their dogs, so they get to have a bit of fun, too.

There were alpacas, sheep & lambs, mares & foals, horses, arts & crafts, and a whole variety of food (ice cream and kettle corn topping my list).












Sorry, the battery went dead the other night and I decided to follow it and went to bed. Latest weather oddity...it was 85 F here on Saturday; two days later it is now 43 F...going from shorts to mittens in that short amount of time, without traveling anywhere, is just wrong!

Promises, promises...

I kind of promised myself that I would really, really try to post at least once a week, preferably twice. So much for that plan.

At any rate, I'm on spring break right now. I really like the time off I get on this job; the only drawback is that the breaks aren't paid. Other than the bit of snow in the air over the weekend, the weather is actually acting a bit like spring. I even saw these (and there were 4 of them) wild turkeys on my way home the other day. It's amazing at just how fast they fade into the brush.

The sun is shining and I ought to be tidying up the great outdoors while Gypsy is off at the groomer's getting her summer "do".

What am I doing instead? Well, blogging and taking pictures, of course! Daffodils have got to be one of my very favorite flowers and this one is certainly enjoying it's patch of sun.

Hyacinths are in my top 10 favs. These ones are very, very blue (as is the yarn). I just finished up spinning this. It's a mystery wool dyed by my friend, Joan, that found it's way into my stash during her moving sale. I'm thinking that I may knit up a pair of sideways gloves.

Other knitting projects on the needles include the latest traveling sock that so desperately wanted to go to Toronto for the Yarn Harlot's book launch and a lace vest that's well on it's way to doneness.

These swatches are for the Colorado Lynn sweater that I fell in love with a few months back. I'm going with the green plied onto white as I think the green shows up better.

Later this day...Gypsy is back from the groomer's and looks like an Airedale again. To be honest, she looked like a scrofulous, black and tan sheep. Much better now; it's really like having two dogs...the difference is that much.

Here she is destroying yet another toy. Clearly, it takes much too long to roll the toy around to get the treats out. Gypsy takes the more direct route and just chews through it.

This coming weekend is our spinning guild's now-annual retreat. I'll try (but no guarantees) to be a good blogger and take pics.

Sock Picture Scavenger Hunt

Even though my just begun sock cannot make it to Toronto for the Yarn Harlot's Sock Picture Scavenger Hunt, I thought I'd take a few pictures on this side of the lake (Lake Ontario) anyway.

The sock started out the day gazing wistfully across Lake Ontario, wishing he could swim.

Maple syrup is very big here in New York State. Our state tree is actually the Sugar Maple. To celebrate, this last weeked was Maple Weekend, so we checked out a sap bucket and went to a pancake breakfast.













On our travels, we tried to match some of the items on Stephanie's list. It wasn't easy, but we did come close on a few.

"With one of TO's finest"...nope. "Mounted"...nope. Miniature horse...yep.

"at St. Lawrence Market"...nope. "With eggplant sandwich"...nope. How about with peameal or bacon...sort of...meet Lula.



"With the geese at Eaton Centre"...nope. "With actual Canadian Geese"...yep. The sock was within 12-15 feet (4-5 meters).



"At a Tim Horton's, with a maple-glazed donut, held by a Tim's employee"...yep.



And finally: "With a beer"...nope. With Screech...yep. (Thank you, Mom!)